A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck off Taiwan's northeastern coastal city of Yilan on Thursday, the island's weather bureau said, with no immediate reports of damage.A Reuters witness said the quake shook buildings in the capital, Taipei. The quake had a depth of 22 km (13 miles). No other details were immediately available. Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China considers its own, lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes. More than 100 people were killed in

World News Aug. 8, 2019

A gunman armed with a rifle killed 20 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday and wounded more than two dozen before being arrested, authorities said, after the latest US mass shooting sent panicked shoppers fleeing.Many of those in the busy store were buying back-to-school supplies when they were caught up in the rampage, which came just six days after a teenage gunman killed three people at a food festival in Northern California.“On a day that would have been a normal day for

World News Aug. 4, 2019

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is unlikely to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in during the United Nations general assembly in September, the Sankei newspaper reported, the latest sign of frosty relations between the key US allies.Abe will not hold talks with Moon unless Seoul takes constructive steps over World War-Two era forced labourers and other issues, the Japanese daily said on Monday.Abe will also forgo meeting Moon during other opportunities, including an Association of Southea

Foreign Affairs July 29, 2019

At least one of the two missiles North Korea test fired on Thursday was a newly developed design and flew some 690 km (428 miles), an official at South Korea's defence ministry told Reuters.The other missile travelled about 430 km (267 miles) before coming down in the sea off North Korea's east coast, the official said, adding that a detailed analysis was being done to verify if the two missiles were the same model. (Reuters)

North Korea July 25, 2019

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc won a solid majority in an upper house election on Sunday but his coalition and allies fell short of a two-thirds majority needed to begin revising the pacifist constitution, public broadcaster NHK said.Abe, who took office in December 2012 pledging to restart the economy and bolster defense, is on track to become Japan’s longest-serving premier if he stays in office until November, a stunning comeback after he abrup

World News July 22, 2019

WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) -- US President Donald Trump on Friday offered to help ease tensions in the political and economic dispute between Japan and South Korea, which threatens global supplies of memory chips and smartphones.Lingering tension, particularly over the issue of compensation for South Koreans forced to work for Japanese occupiers during World War Two, took a turn for the worse this month when Japan restricted exports of high-tech materials to South Korea.The United States has bee

Foreign Affairs July 21, 2019

A top South Koreanofficial on Saturday said a US-South Korean military exercisewould go ahead as planned next month, denying Pyongyang'scharges that holding it would breach an agreement made between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un."The nature of the exercise is not offensive ... and is forstrengthening the alliance," Choi Jong-kun, the secretary forpeace planning to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, told the Aspen Institute's annual strategic forum.Later

Foreign Affairs July 21, 2019

South Korea's An Byeong-hun roared up the British Open leaderboard as he picked up three strokes by the halfway stage of his third round on Saturday.With the leading pairs still to tee off on a pleasant day on the Antrim coast, An made headway as he got himself to five under, just three off the lead held jointly by Ireland's Shane Lowry and American J.B. Holmes.An, who carded a four-under 67 on Friday, gathered birdies at the second, fourth, fifth and eighth to jump 20 places up the leaderboard

Golf July 21, 2019

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday he hoped both North Korea and the United States could "be a little more creative" when the two sides restart talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.Speaking in a radio interview on "The Sean Hannity Show," Pompeo did not say when the negotiations would resume. At the end of June he had said it would likely happen "sometime in July... probably in the next two or three weeks." President Donald Trump m

North Korea July 16, 2019

The United States would hope to see a freeze in the North Korean nuclear program as the start of a process of denuclearization, the State Department said on Tuesday, ahead of fresh talks with Pyongyang supposed to take place this month.US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had a surprise meeting at the end of June in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas and agreed to resume a working-level dialogue, stalled since a failed summitin Vietnam in Feb. US Secreta

North Korea July 10, 2019

An Australian student who was detained in North Korea has been released and has safely left the country, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday.Alek Sigley, 29, who was studying in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, had been missing since June 25. Alarm was raised when the normally active social media user ceased all communication. Morrison interrupted Parliament to confirm that Sigley had been freed. He later said in a statement that Swedish authorities had helped secure the stud

North Korea July 4, 2019

South Korea has released two shipsit had seized on suspicion of transferring oil to North Korea as there was no deliberate breach of UN sanctions, Seoul's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.South Korea seized four vessels to check whether they violated UN sanctions by making illegal ship-to-ship transfers of oil or coal products to North Korean ships.A UN panel approved the release of the Hong Kong-flagged Light house Winmore and the South Korean P-Pioneer based on South Korean probe results that

North Korea July 3, 2019

The US intelligence community does not believe North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is ready to denuclearize, US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Robert Ashley told Fox News in an interviewon Monday. A summit in February between Kim and President Donald Trump collapsed when the two leaders were unable to bridge differences between US demands for denuclearization and North Korean demands for sanctions relief.   "We still continue to assess within the IC (inte

North Korea June 25, 2019

ATHENS, Greece -- Greece’s Acropolis Museum opened an excavation site underneath its modern building Friday, allowing visitors for the first time to walk through an ancient Athenian neighborhood that survived from the Classical era to Byzantine times.The museum, which sits at the foot of the Acropolis hill in Athens, houses masterpiece sculptures of Greek antiquity, including works from the Parthenon, one of the most influential buildings in Western civilization. “Visitors can come d

Culture June 23, 2019

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and China’s President Xi Jinping reached a consensus on “important issues,” and agreed to build on their countries’ friendly relations “whatever the international situation,” North Korean state media reported.Xi left the North Korean capital Pyongyang on Friday after a two-day visit, the first by a Chinese leader in 14 years. State-run news agency KCNA issued a report on Saturday of the results of the visit. China is North Korea

North Korea June 23, 2019